Roswell 2008 Day 1
Curiouser and curiouser…
(More pictures at my flickr page)
Yesterday afternoon, highway 40 east outside of Albuquerque was hit with a thunderstorm so violent that the natives were pulling off to the side with their emergency lights flashing. I put on the blinkers and kept going, using the lights of other daredevils ahead of us to navigate through the driving rain. The windshield wipers were a blur, but did no good, as if someone was pouring a continuous bucket of water over us. Lighting strikes were so close they shook the car. Here was something we don’t get back at home. I did not stop to buy fireworks as the passing parade of billboards suggested, and was sorry for it later, since I’m an unrepentant pyro.
All of the speakers for the City of Roswell’s convention (called “Contact: The Evidence…The Message” are staying at the Best Western Sally Port Inn about two blocks from the lecture hall. The talks are set up in a 1200-seat theater, with a 15-foot high screen for the powerpoint feed. I’m prepared to feel like Charles Foster Kane or at least Steve Jobs at a corporate love-fest for my lecture tomorrow.
It’s hot, but not oppressive–although this report is coming from someone who habitually spends weekends on a dry lakebed where the mercury climbs to 105 degrees by 11AM and stays there until the sun goes down. Most of our time is spent in air-conditioned rooms and exhibit halls anyway. In the Roswell Civic Center (or “Galactic Market Vendor” area as the schedule calls it) the first person I recognized was Guy Malone, who invited me to set a spell while the band “UFOetry” entertained a small crowd across the aisle. After planning some insidious rumors we could spread, I moved on to visit with FATE magazine publisher Phyllis Galde, who is always filled with an infectious enthusiasm and wicked humor that matches her muticolored hair. She asked when I would write something for the magazine, so I agreed to send something along when I get home.
I couldn’t find Keir Dullea over at the Roswell UFO Museum, but I did get a chance to speak with Stan Friedman for about 30 minutes. He told me he’s mystified about his nephew Paul Kimball’s recent posts about him over at the not-to-be-missed blog, Above and Beyond. Kimball appears to take on one subject at a time, and Stan just happens to be in his sights at present. Kimball is also mentioned in Friedman’s new book, Flying Saucers and Science, which Paul thinks is not scientific enough. I have not read it yet.
At 5:00, we boarded a bus that ferried the speakers and other guests to the legendary “Hangar 84,” which was the main aircraft storage and maintenance building at the Roswell Army Airfield in 1947. This is where the Enola Gay was stored from November 1947 to April 1948 after it returned from its deadly mission to Hiroshima. It’s also where the debris from the mysterious crash was kept before it was flown to Fort Worth and then to Wright-Patterson AFB. If we are to believe that these were pieces from an extra-human craft, Hangar 84 is one of the most important historical sites in the nation, and maybe the world.
Stephen Bassett and Richard Dolan
Someone thought it would be funny to park a Humvee in the hangar with an alien dummy stuck to the front bumper, and the photo op was irresistible to most of us. Stephen Bassett and Richard Dolan stood in front of the prop for a few hundred pictures. Local researcher Dennis Balthaser then gave a short speech on the history of the hangar and surviving buildings from the WWII era. I spoke awhile with Farah Yurdozu about the lack of evidence for any government cover-up, at least any secrets about ETs visiting the Earth, an opinion she somewhat shares. See my other posts for more on this.
An intense woman with a mane of black hair and a red t-shirt with the letters “FBI” stenciled on it walked in late. She had a couple pounds of black makeup around her eyes and talked excitedly with conference organizer Peter Robbins. Perhaps this was one of those people who haunt UFO conventions demanding to be put on stage to hawk their outre philosophies and self-published books. Peter smiled and introduced her.
It was Nina Hagen. I just about crapped myself.
For those of you who don’t know, Hagen is a rock vocalist who made it big in the U.S. in the 1980s. Her album NunSexMonkRock was on my turntable quite often while I was in college. She talked for about five minutes on a UFO she witnessed when she was pregnant and her fascination with American ufology. She wrote a song about the sighting called “Zero Zero UFO.”
Turns out Hagen is in town with a TV crew for her own reality show which is being produced in her native Germany. Knowing that this was probably my only chance, I asked Peter to take a picture of us.
Later, there was a sort of hors devours-driven banquet headlined by Bassett, who spoke about missed opportunities in UFO disclosure history, and his belief that the best chance for the U.S. government to come clean will be when the Democrats have the White House again next year. Regular readers of this site know about my serious doubts on this subject.
At 9:15, there was a good fireworks show in the massive Cielo Grande park west of downtown, which made me reflect on how much I love living in this country, but also how much is wrong with the people who supposedly have our best interests in mind. This is the sort of moment that the word “bittersweet” was invented to describe.
After the sky show, producer/writer Paul Davids tried to present a showing of his film Roswell, but the audio wouldn’t play, so they’re running it in the Military Institute theater on Saturday night at 9:30. Davids says that the Showtime suits wanted to call the feature UFO Crash In New Mexico, but he prevailed, a fact for which history and the town of Roswell no doubt thank him.
Can day 2 match up? Find out tomorrow.
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Jul 05 2008 
July 5th, 2008 at 3:13 am
Hey Greg,
just finished the Excluded Middle Anthology. Awesome! I write to you because i remember it was named in one article something about a book that describes the proccess of being possessed by an avatar, and i can’t find the reference because i lend the book to my brother-in-law.
Anyhow, have you people checked “The Stargate Conspiracy”? What do you think about it? There’s a film on the net touching similar issues: http://www.theorionconspiracy.com/
hey nice to be here
cheers
MechaVimana
July 5th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
According to Wiki — Nina Hagen believes Krishna reincarnated as the “king of Jerusalem.” So Greg you’ll have to hook her up with Acharya S’s new book “Suns of God.”
Meanwhile back at the ranch.
July 5th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Very cool that Nina Hagen was there and you got to take a picture with her. She’s awesome. There’s a clip on YouTube, or at least there used to be, of her appearance on Letterman’s show where she talks about her ufo encounter.
July 5th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
“This is where the Enola Gay was stored from November 1947 to April 1948 after it returned from its deadly mission to Hiroshima”
Don’t you mean “heroic”, you commie traitor???
I’m glad you’re having such a great time.
July 6th, 2008 at 4:06 am
Mecha Vimana,
Nice to have you here!
Thanks for the compliment on the book. I’m not sure where we discussed “possession by an avatar,” you’ll have to be more specific.
I haven’t read the “Stargate Conspiracy,” so I don’t have an opinion, but a cliffs notes version would be nice.
July 6th, 2008 at 4:08 am
Drew,
Sounds like vintage Nina Hagen. I saw her again today riding off in front of the parade, but not actually a part of it, even though it would have been a no-brainer to have her leading off.
July 6th, 2008 at 4:09 am
As a retired USAF bomb handler, I prefer Greg’s ‘deadly’ to the jingoistic ‘heroic’ any day of the week. There’s nothing ‘heroic’ about the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima or Nagasaki. They were deadly serious business that hastened the end of the war with Japan and prevented a futile struggle to save face by sacrificing the Japanese civilian population to create a Phyrric victory for the Allies. Back in the ’80’s, I went to Roswell on a TDY for a post strike recovery exercise. I’m fairly sure I stayed in the same hotel. As small towns go, Roswell’s not bad.
July 6th, 2008 at 4:10 am
Ben,
I’ll have to look that one up. I also have a great picture of her talking to Paul Davids, that I’ll put up on my flickr page soon.
July 6th, 2008 at 4:11 am
RPJ,
No, but I’m probably a Shinto traitor.
July 6th, 2008 at 6:17 am
hey greg,
the only thing i remember was that it was being discused a novel by an author that, althought being a work of fiction, could be considered an accurate portrait of how it works the avatar thing. Well maybe I’m wrong. I’ve just said my brother-in-law to call me when he arrives to that point–but he is so slowly reading.
Anyway i missed the vimana thing while reading the excluded middle … do you think that the vimana crafts–that were said to be piloted by chi-kung masters–could be linked to the wilhem reich UFO-chi-stealing episode?
July 6th, 2008 at 8:13 am
MechaVimana — You’re probably clued into my blogbook, inspired by the Stargate Conspiracy, on UFOs, weird conspiratorial science, and qigong alchemy:
http://mothershiplanding.blogspot.com
Just in case.
Now back to Nick Redfern’s masterpiece:
Body Snatchers in the Desert: The horrible truth at the heart of the Roswell story.
July 6th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Hello,
I’m a Roswell native, living in Victoria, B.C. for the last million years, and have just read your entry with interest, since I am sadly missing the UFO Festival this year. Anyway, your reference to Nina Hagen interested me. I am in possession of a German diary and some beautiful photographs of an opera singer named Emmi Leisner, who was the mother of an actress named Uta Hagen. Do you know if she would be a relative of Nina Hagen’s? If you get a chance, next time you run into Nina at the festival, would you ask her if she has any interest in these historical items? I would be glad to send them to her if she would like to contact me.
Sorry to be off-subject, but thought it seemed a good opportunity for contacting someone who might care about these things. Anyway, enjoy the festival, as I know you will. And say hello to my friend Dennis Balthasar for me.
July 7th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Dude- you met Nina Hagen!!!
( Her first album is still one of the
outstanding debuts in Rock…the
later stuff is…charmingly goofy,
unless you’re comletely without
a sense of the absurd. )
kwsvictoria-Ms. Hagen does have a
website-I expect you could probably
contact her directly…
Glad the show is good so far-but you were nuts to keep driving in that kind
of weather…